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The Degu Way of Life
If you have a pet Degu, the easiest way to understand why they do the things that they do is to understand how Degus live in the wild. As with most animals, most of the Degus traits are inherited from their wild ancestors.
Unfortunately, most people cannot take a day trip out to enjoy nature and hope to spot some Degus in action. You see, wild Degus live in Chile, up in the mountains. While you won't see wild Degus in any other area, you should note that there are thousands in this one location in the world.
Wild Degus live very social lives in communities. Each community has different clans, and each clan has various families within the clan. The Degus society is very orderly, and certain rules do apply for peace and harmony, as well as for survival.
Each family consists of one male and anywhere from two to four females. Each of these families live inside a burrow in the community, and each burrow have mounds around the opening, which consist of sticks, for the most part. The higher a Degus mound is, the more important he is in the community.
Essentially, the Degu who has the highest mound is the dominant Degu in the community…however, if his mound should be destroyed, he loses that distinction. He may regain that distinction after he has rebuilt his mound, providing that it is bigger than all other mounds in the community.
Degus live on plant life in the wild. They tunnel and burrow, and are often considered garden pests to the people who live in that rural area. The tunnels that they build under the ground are very complex, yet every tunnel has a purpose, most of which is making it easier to get away from anything preying on the Degu.
But there are functional uses as well. As those tunnels run along, they open up into what is essentially ‘rooms' and each room has a specific purpose. If you traveled through the tunnels in a community, you would find a room used as a nursery, a room used for food, a room used for sleeping and mating, and many other functional rooms.
If you ever have the chance to see Degus in their wild habitat, or to watch video of the Degus in such a habitat, take the opportunity to really pay attention to how they live. Again, this will give you a great deal of insight into why your pet Degu does the things that he does. It's simply his way of life – the way of life that was instilled in him long before he was even born.
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Next Article: Choosing Bedding for Your Degu
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